Metroid Prime in Trilogy has been updated with many features from Metroid Prime 3, such as its aiming system, bloom rendering, 16:9 aspect ratio, and reduced difficulty level (to play the original difficulty, play "veteran" instead of normal). The update also has higher resolution textures, and uses Trilogy's menus, save system, achievements, and unlockable soundtracks.

Game Pages

Emulation Information

Constant Wii Remote Disconnects

Since 3.5-471, when using the MS Bluetooth Stack (the default Bluetooth stack on Windows) the game will think that the Wii Remote is constantly disconnecting. Pressing a button on the Wii Remote will restore it, but it will disconnect again seconds later. Disable Enable Speaker Data to remedy this problem. It's a problem bound to PC hardware and driver, you can also try Bluetooth Passthrough, or follow this Wii Remote -TR Connection Guide anyhow to avoid the MS Bluetooth stack. DolphinBar is another viable solution for this problem.

Shader Compilation Stuttering

Metroid Prime (Metroid Prime: Trilogy) is one of the most susceptible titles to shader compilation stuttering. The GC and Wii have no concept of shaders - everything is executed directly by the hardware without an intermediate programming language (API). Modern computers and mobile systems do not work in this way, requiring the use of shaders as an intermediary so your system's GPU can perform the tasks that the GC and Wii GPU performed directly. Shaders have to be generated though, and since GC/Wii games are not designed to create shaders ahead of time as a PC game would, when a new effect appears Dolphin has to delay the CPU thread while the GPU thread performs the compilation; a pause that does not exist on the consoles. For most games shader generation takes only a few milliseconds, but for a few demanding titles, the shaders that they generate are so large that they can result in noticeable stuttering, in severe cases pauses of over a second may occur.

Since 5.0-4869, this problem can be solved by enabling ubershaders. Changing GPU, updating GPU drivers, or updating Dolphin may invalidate the shader cache, requiring specialized shaders to be compiled again. Since 5.0-6461, Dolphin caches shader pipeline UIDs independently of the video backend and compiles them on game start. This allows cached shaders to work across different video backends, platforms, hardware configurations and even Dolphin versions as long as changes aren't made to Dolphin's actual shader pipeline. These shaders are compiled in the background when the game starts, which may cause stuttering for a short period. Enable Compile Shaders Before Starting to avoid this.

Problems

Visors

Visors will only work if EFB Copies to Texture Only is disabled. Though EFB Copies to Texture Only is forced as disabled by the GameINI, visor corruption may still occur if you open the graphics configuration window during gameplay. Disable EFB Copies to Texture Only in the Dolphin GUI to avoid any problems. Fixed with default config handling revisions.

The Black Bar

During Shader Compilation, stuttering can become so severe that it desyncs the GPU and CPU threads in Dual Core mode. The game freaks out over this desync, creating a black bar at the bottom of the screen, which takes up 15% of the screen space and "squishes" the game in the remaining space. The black bar will remain there from then on whether stuttering continues or ceases.

After 4.0-7517, enabling Virtual XFB or Real XFB will fix and/or prevent the problem. If XFB is disabled the problem may still occur. Details can be found in the September Progress Report. Fixed with Hybrid XFB in 5.0-5874.

As for version 5.0, to remove the black bar simply go to Configuration, Wii tab, and uncheck "Use PAL60 Mode (EuRGB60)"

Enhancements

Bloom Offset in IR>1

Like Prime 3 and all the Trilogy games, Prime 1 Trilogy has bloom offset problems when playing above 1x Native internal resolution. Fortunately, it is not very noticeable with this game. The only solution is to disable Scaled EFB copies, which creates issues of its own. See issue 5573.

Dot in IR>1

When playing above 1x Native internal resolution, there is a dot in the very center of the screen. It's small and easy to ignore, but it's always there. It can be hidden along with the helmet display in the game settings (Hit "2" then "-" on your Wii Remote to bring up the option screen then go to "Visor" in the left column, "Helmet Opacity" in the right column, then move the slider all the way to the left). This problem did not appear in the original game Metroid Prime for GameCube.

Version Compatibility

Compatibility can be assumed to align with the indicated revisions. However, compatibility may extend to prior revisions or compatibility gaps may exist within ranges indicated as compatible due to limited testing. Please update as appropriate.

DX9, 1.5x Resolution, 4x SSAA, 8x AF runs at 90-100%. HLE works with little to no issues. Use Accurate VBeam Emulation for a nice speedup. Very well emulated in current versions. MUST use dol swap to get working.

For any Resolution up to 2.5x, any AA up to max, any AF up to 8x: With EFB->Texture, runs at ~30-45FPS. With EFB->RAM, runs at ~7-10FPS. EFB->RAM needed for X-Ray Visor, otherwise it's just a white screen. Thermal Visor works fine with EFB->Texture. No other settings seem to have any real effect on the framerate, although enabling Accurate VBeam Emulation in the properties does provide a speedup on the map screen, from ~10FPS OGL and ~20FPS DX9/11 to ~45FPS with any settings.

DX11 at 1900x1200 (using internal resolution auto, 4xAA), game completed averaging 50-60FPS, except for areas where X-Ray visor is required: EFB>RAM must be used, decreasing performance to 30-40FPS. Recommend using save-states to switch EFB>RAM off except when x-ray visor is used (not very often). Other slowdowns common when entering/existing water, likely due to visor droplet effect. "Accurate V-Beam" in right-click options provides noticeable speedup in large rooms. DSP-HLE works fine, except for very occasional loss of BGM (can be resolved by save/load or reset); DSP-LLE does not drop BGM but instead causes crackling and clicking sounds whenever framerate drops below 60. OpenMP texture decoder and disable fog/pixeldepth recommended for slight speedup, no ill effects observed. DOL swap still required to run.

100% emulation, there's no stuttering or lagging. Minor problems, such as 3 pixels at the middle of the screen. It's a bit annoying but easy to ignore. NVIDIA 3D vision isn't working, possibly a Dolphin problem. Settings used: Direct3D9, no AA, no Anisotropic filtering, HLE audio (seems to work right, without any problems), 1440x900 fullscreen resolution.

OpenGL at 1920x1080 (3x internal res), no AA, 4x AF, works consistently at 58-60FPS - There was a halo around Samus during elevator cutscenes and in the menu screen that I did not see in 4.0-2591, I saw drops in FPS when entering or exiting water and MAJOR drops when fighting meta ridley (25FPS at times), other than than such a great experience playing MP1 in 1080p

D3D @1920x1080 (3x IR), no AA, 1x AF, playing at PAL50. Runs very nicely, minor FPS drops when entering water and in some places, much like in Metroid Prime 2, otherwise constant 50FPS. Played all the way through without major glitches. Very close to being perfect.

Both OpenGL and D3D11 @ 1920x1080 (3x IR), no AA, 16x AF. Mostly stable framerate at 60 FPS with the occasional drop. As expected, with the External Frame Buffer (XFB) disabled, a large black bar appears at the bottom of the screen and stretches the rest of the image. While setting the XFB to Virtual does fix this particular issue, there is constant flickering and the framerate drops somewhat. Setting the XFB to Real, however, causes severe graphical issues, and the framerate drops to around 4 FPS. As a result the game is unplayable for me.

Vulkan(Experimental) @ 3440x1440 (black bars to keep 16:9 aspect) (Window Size IR), 2x MSAA, 16x AF. Tested with European release. I encountered no problems during my run. Virtual XFB worked well, no flickering or other visible artifacts. Still experiences a few stutters when building shaders but it's almost perfect now.